I didn’t record The Man Who Ate the Town podcast today because it was a slow day and I would have just talked about Thanksgiving food. I don’t think forcing topics is good for the podcast, so I didn’t. I mean, if you want to read about what I made, check out the upcoming blog post over there about what I did. It should be interesting.

No, Dear Reader, today, I want to talk about records. GASP! I know, right? It seemed like I had a lot of discussion on Facebook today about it and wanted to talk about what I listened to for a sec. First, I was doing some cooking today and usually, I listen to Amazon Prime when I cook (again… GASP…) but I’m trying to get through some of the piled up “to be listened to” stack that is amassing at an alarming rate.

We purchased a new four-cubed shelf for those as to separate them from the main collection. They’re not in any real order and some of them are The BCPF’s and some are mine. So, I did the random grab method with a little prejudice. If it was something that was The BCPF’s, then I put it back and tried again.

The first one up was Tales From Topographic Oceans from Yes. It’s a 2xLP that has four songs on it. Yes, one per side. I really enjoyed listening to 90125 last night and figured I’d go for the older, more proggy Yes for a bit. I can say that it was well done. It was a bit too deep for me, I think. As you may recall from my RS Top 500 list, I am not always a fan of long, drawn-out, tunes. I think that’s why I like pop music so much, four minutes and next. My ADD gets in my way. I didn’t really care for it.

A few weeks ago, I had to admit that I knew nothing from King Crimson. In my “bonus-stack-I-didn’t-know-I-had,” there was the greatest hits comp, The Young Persons’ Guide To King Crimson. So, okay, let’s do that one next. I don’t know if the production was wonky or what, but it was extra quiet in spots and, yes, I know with that kind of music dynamics are important and the breadth is vast, but I don’t know that this is what that was. Anywhat! It was basically “more of the same” as it was with Yes. It was good. Well done, even. I just didn’t get into it. I will admit that I didn’t listen to the second disc. Why? It wasn’t because I was ditching it. A package arrived at my door and it was one that I’ve waited a long time for. Which brings me to the next:

All That Jazz from Breathe. Yes, it’s some very sugary pop music but it’s well written and it’s from my junior-senior years in high school. I sang the songs to an ex-girlfriend. It has eluded me since I started my vinyl journey and was one of my most coveted. I found it in VG+ condition on the Discogs Marketplace (where, like the name suggests, you buy and sell albums to and from all over the world). That and another album showed up together. I sang several of the songs quite disjointedly as I don’t hear them often. I love that album and was so excited to have it.

The next was Hi Infidelity from REO Speedwagon. I had never given it a fair shake and it was cheap from the same seller on Discogs and shipping was free. I sang a good bit of those tunes whilst cooking, as well.

Next was a twofer that is unusual I found out. It’s Nursery Cryme and Foxtrot in the same 2xLP set from Genesis. I love me some Peter Gabriel and I really like Genesis but I don’t like them together, mostly. Nursery Cryme was their third studio album and it was pretty good. I didn’t know what to expect, but I did know I was going to get long songs like the Yes and King Crimson. I wasn’t wrong about that, but I did actually enjoy listening to it. Foxtrot, its follow-up, was good but I didn’t like it as well as I did Nursery Cryme.

I finished off the listening (to this point) with Midnight Madness from Night Ranger. Yes, “Sister Christian.” I love a lot of stuff on this album and that song, in particular, has a special place in my heart. I probably wouldn’t be either the musician I am today or at all if it weren’t for that song. I performed that as an audition to get into this “contemporary music class” in ninth grade. That’s where I was pushed to learn bass guitar and piano. It pushed me to be a good musician. Whether or not I ever accomplished that? I can’t say, but I wouldn’t be anything musical without that, at least not until much later.

That’s my day’s playlist so far, but the reason I wanted to talk about them was the fact that they garnered a lot of talk on Facebook and Instagram. See, I post every album I listen to, twice. Once in the #nowspinning Facebook group from Underdog Records that The BCPF and I, along with many of our friends are part of and then on Instagram copying to Facebook and Twitter. The group is private so only members see that and I’m not necessarily Facebook friends with all the members, but we get good conversations from it. The IG post carries to anyone who is friends with me and follows me.

I know I’m in a good spot when I get Doug Davis, Ed Bumgardner, Lee Wallace, Clay Howard and others in the music community, all of whom I respect as far as their tastes and opinions, to comment and start an hours-long thread about what is “good” or not, or what is a better album or why this may be overrated or this may be underrated. I love musical conversations and when my playlist is at the core of it, I feel all gooey. Okay, that’s probably pushing it, but I really enjoy it. I enjoyed my listening today for all those reasons.

Do you have any comments on any of those albums, or any albums, Dear Reader? Surely, Superfan Damien has some to recommend. I want to hear from any of you, your thoughts or recommendations for albums to listen to. They don’t have to be on vinyl but I prefer them to be. That’s what we’re doing right now. Thanks for indulging me in this long-winded post!

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

—“So raise your hands to heaven and pray that we’ll be back together someday. Tonight, I need your sweet caress. Hold me in the darkness. Tonight, you calm my restlessness. You relieve my sadness.” – “Hands to Heaven” (Glasper/Spice/Delahunty/Lillington)